Projects
What Does He Need?
(2018 to present)
What Does He Need? (2018 to present) is a long-term collaborative project exploring how men and boys are shaped by and influence the world they live in. The project is led by artist Fiona Whelan, Rialto Youth Project and theatre company Brokentalkers, in association with a Dublin city network of individuals and organisations in the areas of arts and culture, youth work, community development and education.
The forest that won’t forget
(2024 to present)
The forest that won't forget (2024 to present) is a national public artwork and place of gathering and remembrance dedicated to the women and families across Ireland affected by the failures of the CervicalCheck programme. The project is a collaboration between 221+ patient support group and artists Fiona Whelan and John Conway which began in 2021, and has developed through a further partnership with Hometree.
The River
(2023-2026)
The River (2023-2026) is a large-scale visual mapping of the processual features of my collaborative practice which engages with systemic power relations and inequalities through long term collaborations. The project is a collaboration between Fiona Whelan, Ciaran Smyth and Orla Whelan.
I am not me on my own
(2022-2025)
I’m not me on my own (2022-2025) is a body of personal research that emerged from a Spacex-rise secondment to Nicosia Cyprus, where I was hosted by Home for Cooperation. The research forms part of the ‘Urban Subjects’ work package which considers how pedagogic strategies in spatial practice contribute to the transformation and construction of subjectivity, asking ‘What forms of knowledge are produced, and what types of subjects are supported?’
The Apology – Multi-Story Act 1 (2020-2022)
The Apology (2022) is a performance that publicly acknowledges the failures of the Irish State with regards to housing policy and provision. The Apology forms part of 'Multi-Story - Act 1' (2020-2022), a collaborative project by artists Fiona Whelan and Feidlim Cannon, and Housing Action Now (HAN) exploring direct experiences of housing injustice through collective writing and performative story-telling.
Two Fuse
(2016-2022)
At once an ethos and a method of inquiry, Two Fuse is a collaborative platform that began in 2016, bringing together Kevin Ryan (who works in the discipline of sociology) and Fiona Whelan (who works in the field of socially-engaged/collaborative art), through a commitment to thinking across the boundaries of disciplinary enclosures. Two Fuse is also a way of acknowledging the collaborative nature of inquiry – that the pursuit of knowledge and understanding entails both direct and indirect encounters and exchanges.
The Natural History of Hope
(2012–16)
Natural History of Hope (2012-2016) was a four-year inter-generational project exploring contemporary equality issues for women and girls living and working in Rialto. The project was led by a core group of staff in Rialto Youth Project and artist Fiona Whelan, and involved a further collaboration with Brokentalkers theatre company.
TEN
(2014)
TEN: Territory, Encounter & Negotiation (2014) is a critical memoir exploring a decade of socially engaged art practice through the eyes of the primary artist involved. Set in the south inner-city of Dublin, it offers a uniquely personal and subjective insight into the complex working relationships, methods of engagement, creative processes and analyses from a long term project exploring power and policing that operates at the intersection of art, youth work, critical pedagogy and activism.
Policing Dialogues
(2007–11)
Policing Dialogues (2007-2011) was a four year project exploring power and policing in Dublin. The project was led by What’s the Story? Collective, who emerged from a long term collaboration between Rialto Youth Project and artist Fiona Whelan.